Destination Imagination

This past Saturday, something very special happened for some of Mrs. Humeniuk’s grade 7 boys and girls. Two of her Destination Imagination teams competed in the Provincial Challenge at Kwantlen University. The Twizzlers (Errol, Ethan, Felix, Kevin, Marley, Nathan, and Steven) and RU4Reel? (Adrienne, Angelina, Chantal and Jenni) both earned their place after succeeding at the Regional Challenge.

It was a charged day that saw the kids band together to overcome a series of unexpected hurdles. The Twizzlers almost lost their allotted time slot to perform in the Twist-O-Rama Instant Challenge after a printing glitch where another team took their slot. In the meantime, RU4Reel couldn’t register due to missing documentation. Thankfully, Mrs. Humeniuk got both teams back on schedule. Next at the Weigh-In, the judges told the kids they had to remake their structure with corrugated cardboard and prove they were using a non-latex balloon. Surprise! All the girls and boys then scoured the Kwantlen grounds to find the cardboard, and then with their toolkit in hand, rebuilt their structure. After a wild goose chase in Strawberry Hill for non-latex balloon packaging, the volunteer parent, Ms Tao, came back with two packages of balloons. Neither said “made with latex”. But when the kids tried to make the argument that the balloons were not latex by inference, the judges refused their argument. Then Marley hit on a great idea – she re-read the permissible materials and replaced the balloon with newsprint. Yay! The judges accepted that solution and the Twizzlers past the Weigh-In!

When it was the Twizzlers time to perform “Ming Ming’s Temple” and put their structure through the weight and torque test, the team was ready – having already faced a day of unexpected challenges. They pulled it off without a hitch and their structure took all the weight they could pile on – even having to add an extension pole – before the buzzer sounded. They did it! 980 points! Enough to earn them 3rd place in the BC Provincials 2013!

What is even more incredible is that these kids – working together on a creative and applied science project (without even knowing it was about science!) learned to work with each other – problem-solving and basking in the wonderful feeling when all members pull together and achieve a collective goal that none of them could do on their own. These kids dream of going to the Globals in Tennessee on May 21st – 25th. They have won a spot to compete with 30,000 other kids from across the world. We don’t have a lot of time and it is very expensive. Please support Maple Grove’s Destination Imagination Global Team – the Twizzlers! For more information about how, please contact Mrs. Humeniuk atmhumeniuk@vsb.bc.ca

Great work boys and girls! We’re very proud of you.

Summer Camp at Maple Grove

The West 1 Community Schools Team is very excited to announce a fifth summer for our Healthy Eaters And Leaders Summer Camps this July and August!